‘Play Along’ by Liz Tomforde: One day you’ll figure it out

What is your purpose in life? What’s the one thing you were put on this earth to do? Is having a purpose important? Life’s purpose is different for everyone, and that’s okay. For some, it’s about changing the world; for others, like Isaiah in Play Along by Liz Tomforde, it’s simply about making their loved ones happy—even if it means hiding their feelings.

Play Along is book four in the Windy City series, but each book stands alone. This sports romance follows two main characters, Isaiah and Kennedy. Isaiah plays professional baseball alongside his brother Kai and their friends Cody and Travis. 

Isaiah lost his mother in a car accident at 13. His father left shortly after, leaving Isaiah and Kai to fend for themselves. With no one else to lean on, Isaiah buried his emotions, using humour to make life easier for his brother, who was doing his best to keep them afloat.

“It was as if I had found my purpose in life—to make those around me happy, so I tend to keep the sad, sappy moments private.”

On his toughest day of the year—the anniversary of his mother’s death—Isaiah meets Kennedy, the Windy City Warriors' ambitious female trainer, in the last place he expected: the women’s bathroom. It’s the only space where he lets his guard down—a hidden corner of the stadium where he allows himself to feel.

Kennedy joins the Windy City Warriors as the second-in-command to the team’s lead doctor. But as soon as her sexist boss realises she’s a woman, the job she was promised disappears. She has two choices: leave or take a lower position for which she’s overqualified. She chooses the latter, hoping to one day earn the role she’s worked for. Isaiah overhears the entire conversation, but when Kennedy begs him to keep it to himself, he agrees.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve dealt with a sexist boss. I’m a woman working in sports, after all.”

Kennedy had a lot to prove—to herself, an industry that resisted women, and a family that never truly saw her, no matter how hard she tried to be the perfect daughter.

Isaiah develops a crush on Kennedy as the story unfolds, but she doesn’t take him seriously. To her, he’s all jokes and no substance—until one night in Vegas, when she decides to live on her own terms.

That same night, she’s in town for her stepsister’s bachelorette party—her stepsister is about to marry Kennedy’s ex, Connor. A man who was only pain to her, who made her feel unlovable and incapable of deep feelings. 

After a few drinks, Kennedy and Isaiah get married as a joke—a little revenge against her family that would never approve of her choice anyway. To them, marriage is a business deal, nothing more. But what they got wrong is that what happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas. To keep her job, Kennedy has to keep up the act and stay “married” to Isaiah for at least six months until her contract ends.

“I’m enjoying this little game Kennedy and I are playing, with her letting me treat her as if she were mine. Except my mind is starting to confuse the game with real life.”

Will this game stay a game? Or does life have other plans? Because life, as it turns out, has a way of flipping things upside down just for fun.

Losing a parent at a young age is one of the hardest things a child can go through. And grief—grief doesn’t just go away. It lingers, shaping the way you see the world. Isaiah never really got over losing his mother. That loss stayed with him, showing up as anxiety whenever the weather turned stormy—because that’s how he lost her on a rainy, stormy day. 

However, one of the deepest human desires is to know that someone understands you without judgement. You want to be seen. You want to be cared for. And once you find that, the road ahead feels a little easier. Isaiah and Kennedy found that in each other in the most unexpected of ways.

“Even when my mind tricks me, she validates my fears,” Isaiah says. “His patience and unwavering commitment showed me my importance in his life. How lucky I am that I get to love and be loved so effortlessly," Kennedy wonders.

Play Along is an easy, humorous read where romance flows naturally and friendships feel real—because real friends make life easier. It’s proof that healthy relationships exist—the kind that heal wounds you didn’t even realise you had. And yes, they take effort from both sides, but they’re worth it. It also reflects women's struggles in male-dominated fields, making it more than a love story.

Jane Shussa is passionate about books, coffee, nature, and travel. She serves as a Senior Digital Communications Officer for Twaweza East Africa.